Can you believe 2022 is almost over? It’s easy to fall behind on your reading goals, especially as the year winds down. Thankfully, there are plenty of short books to help you catch up! Whether you have a public reading goal for everyone to see or a personal one meant just for you, it’s time to buckle up for a long list of short books to help you reach it before 2023.

Under 200 pages

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers, 160 pages

When you can get whatever you want, does having more matter? Sibling Dex is a tea monk traveling the wilderness searching for meaning when they meet Splendid Speckled Mosscap. Mosscap is a member of a robot community thought long gone, and he’s on a search too. Together, the two discover purpose and what humans need to survive.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built is a gentle, wholesome novella just right to wind down the year with. The sequel, A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, is also out. It only clocks in at 149 pages, so it fits right into this list as well!

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Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw, 144 pages

Five friends reunite in Japan for a destination wedding at a Hein-era mansion. It’s the perfect location for the ghost-obsessed couple, thanks to the rumors of a haunting. Buried in the home’s foundations are the bones of a bride, alongside the girls sacrificed every year to keep her company. What started as a dream wedding quickly turns into a nightmare. I’m not including the cover here because looking at it terrifies me, but seek out Nothing But Blackened Teeth if you dare.

Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot, 160 pages

The cover of Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot

Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing and hospitalization for bipolar II disorder and PTSD, Terese Marie Mailhot begins to write her way out of trauma. She wrote Heart Berries as a memorial to her mother, a story of reconciliation with her father and a form of catharsis for anyone who grew up poor, abused and robbed of their culture. Mailhot writes of motherhood, loss, suffering, love, survival and more, and this short book isn’t one to take lightly.

Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor, 160 pages

A young girl turns deadly after a strange artifact falls from the sky. She travels Ghana alone, and the people she meets both fear and worship her. She walks the boundary between modern life and folk tales, but what is her purpose when everyone she loves is gone?

Nnedi Okorafor is a master of Africanfuturism; I’m always impressed by her ability to blend African culture with futuristic technology. While Remote Control is a quick read, it will stick with you long after you finish.

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The Body Is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor, 176 pages

What better way to end the year than with a book on radical self-love? With The Body Is Not an Apology, activist and poet Sonya Renee Taylor invites readers to reconnect with their minds and bodies and celebrate their enduring strength. This is the perfect book to start your journey of deconstructing the fatphobia, racism, ableism and more toward the human body that our society perpetuates.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells, 176 pages

The cover of All Systems Red by Martha Wells

After hacking the government software that forces it to follow orders, all Murderbot wants is to watch its programs and avoid humans. However, it can’t keep to itself for long when deadly accidents occur around the humans it’s supposed to protect. All Systems Red is a fast-paced, breezy adventure with much less murder than the title implies. Sarcastic, hilarious and painfully shy, Murderbot is all of us. The entire series is worth a read if you’re looking for short books.

Under 300 pages

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield, 240 pages

“The deep sea is a haunted house, a place in which things that ought not to exist move about in the darkness.”

After a deep-sea mission that ended in catastrophe, Leah returns home to her wife, Miri. However, the woman who comes back is not the same as the one who left. She doesn’t eat but craves salt water, has frequent nosebleeds and spends her time locked in the bathroom, running water from every tap. Miri realizes that, although Leah is physically back, the woman she loves and the life they created may be slipping away.

Told in alternating chapters between Leah and Miri, Our Wives Under the Sea is full of atmospheric and quiet horror. Try this one out if you want to end your year with a little melancholy and reaffirm your fear of the ocean.

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My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite, 240 pages

The cover of My Sister, The Serial Killer by Okinkan Braithwaite

Korede knows that bleach is the best way to clean up blood. It isn’t because she’s a nurse. Instead, it’s because she spends her downtime cleaning up after her sister Ayoola, who ends every relationship with murder. Korede is content with her lot in life until Ayoola starts dating her boss. Nursing a secret crush, Korede isn’t prepared for him to end up as Ayoola’s next victim. But saving one person she loves means sacrificing the other.

While it may be a short book, My Sister, the Serial Killer is a wild ride from start to finish. It’s a darkly comic story about the relationship between two women and how far each is willing to go for love.

Gods of Want by K-Ming Chang, 224 pages

Sixteen short stories highlight the experiences of immigrants, Asians and queer women in America. K-Ming Chang’s first collection brings surrealism to narratives that mix myth and migration, and it’s hard to pick a favorite. There’s “Auntland,” where the narrators’ aunts adjust to life in America by kissing women at temple and preparing for citizenship tests with tubs of vanilla ice cream. There’s “Resident Aliens,” in which a series of secret-keeping widows move one by one into a former slaughterhouse. There’s even a story told entirely as episodes of Hoarders.

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A book of short stories is always an excellent choice for a quick read, and Gods of Want is no exception. Perfect for fans of Carmen Maria Machado’s collection Her Body and Other Parties, this short book should be on everyone’s 2022 reading list.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, 272 pages

The cover of Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Piranesi lives in a house with infinite rooms, endless corridors and an imprisoned ocean. It’s all he remembers, and he is not afraid. But as he explores his home, evidence of another person emerges. Soon the life Piranesi thinks he knows comes crashing down around him, revealing that things may not be what they seem.

Piranesi was one of my favorite books of 2020 and has stuck with me ever since. It’s a story of loneliness and solitude, of kindness and reverence and contemplation. Read this if you’re looking to end your year with a bit of introspection.

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The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey, 256 pages

Evelyn is justifiably angry when she finds out her husband Nathan is having an affair. Things only get worse when she meets the other woman. Martine is everything Evelyn isn’t: warm, quiet, agreeable and kind. She’s also Evelyn’s clone, created using research and technology Evelyn’s ex stole from her. Soon after the couple separates, Martine calls Evelyn in a panic. She killed Nathan, and now she needs help cleaning up the mess. Despite everything, the two must work together to keep the world from discovering about Martine and what she’s done.

Unless you’re very new to GGA, you know about my love for everything Sarah Gailey does. You can read my full review of The Echo Wife here; If you’re looking for a weird, unconventional twist on the domestic thriller, The Echo Wife is the perfect short book to end your year.

The Monster’s Bones by David K. Randall, 288 pages

Have you ever wondered how T-Rex fossils got from the Montana wilderness to New York City? Then The Monster’s Bones is perfect for you! It tells the story of the Gilded Age Bone Wars and a quest to save the struggling American Museum of Natural History from irrelevancy. Add a fearless paleontologist, dastardly robber barons and opportunistic cowboys and you have a quick read perfect for the big screen.

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There you have it! Twelve fantastic short books to help you achieve your reading goals before the year ends. How many books have you read this year? Let us know below, and check back for even more reaching recommendations.

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